Overview of the US – ASEAN relations

The relations between the US and ASEAN are critical to each other in several areas, such as trade and economic cooperation, investment, tourism, immigration and students exchanges. In a recent document, the East-West center goes over the details of these relations through a series of well-conceived infographics.

Strengthening US-ASEAN relations

The other major powers have been steadily increasing their influence in ASEAN: Europe, Japan and China particularly, which now weighs heavily on both economic and political spheres. With the upcoming integration of the ASEAN Economic Community – AEC – in 2015, the US wants to strengthen its economic and political relations in Southeast Asia.

ASEAN-US relations infographic highlights

ASEAN GDP and GDP per capita comparisons

Before going into details on the actual US-ASEAN relations, the report provides some reminders of the ASEAN economic context through a series of inforgraphics on the ASEAN GDP that enable to easily grasp the situation.

ASEAN GDP for 2013, compared to other countries in the region, with the share of each ASEAN country

More comparisons of ASEAN GDP with China, India, Japan the US and the EU can be found together with data from the different ASEAN countries in our ASEAN infographics on economy and population.

Average ASEAN GDP per capita is USD 3,852

American direct investments in ASEAN and Asia

The US is a leading investor in Asia, with the aggregated ASEAN countries the leading receiver of American direct investments in Asia.

Direct investments between the US and Asia

Direct investments between the US and ASEAN from 2001 to 2012

US goods and services exported to ASEAN

The US exports almost 100 USD Billion worth of goods and services to ASEAN, here are the actual kinds of goods and services exported.

Detailed composition of American exports of goods and services to ASEAN

ASEAN Americans

Many new ASEAN nationals are naturalized every year, led by people from the Philippines and Vietnam. There are currently 6 million Asian Americans who trace their ethnicity to ASEAN countries. Here are the details of ASEAN Americans in each US state.

Numbers of Americans identifying with an ASEAN ethnicity in each US state

American tourists in ASEAN

More than 3 million Americans go to visit ASEAN countries every year. Here are the actual figures of visits of each country, led by visits to Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.

American tourists in each ASEAN country

Each individual infographic of the “Asia Matters for America” report and additional data can be found in the ASEAN data section of their website, to be embedded in your websites and blogs, or downloaded to use in your presentations.